CHP has eye on scofflaws at toll plazas

BAY AREA

Cheating FasTrak at the Bay Bridge and other spans results in millions in toll losses each year. Chronicle photo, 2007, by Paul Chinn

Cheating FasTrak at the Bay Bridge and other spans results in millions in toll losses each year. Chronicle photo, 2007, by Paul Chinn

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Cheating FasTrak at the Bay Bridge and other spans results in millions in toll losses each year. Chronicle photo, 2007, by Paul Chinn

Cheating FasTrak at the Bay Bridge and other spans results in millions in toll losses each year. Chronicle photo, 2007, by Paul Chinn

CHP has eye on scofflaws at toll plazas

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Motorists who sneak through FasTrak and carpool lanes to avoid paying bridge tolls, who speed through the toll plazas or fail to buckle up will need to straighten up - or risk seeing a flashing red light in their rear-view mirrors.

In the coming weeks, the California Highway Patrol plans to increase the number of officers chasing down scofflaws at the seven state-owned bridges in the Bay Area. The project, funded with a state grant, is being developed in cooperation with the Bay Area Toll Authority, the regional agency that oversees operation of the state toll bridges.

CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said the crackdown is focusing on motorists who are speeding or driving dangerously through the toll plazas, under the influence of drugs or alcohol or not wearing seat belts or who do not have their children in car seats.

But if toll violators are spotted, they'll be ticketed, he said.

Bay Area Toll Authority officials, who approved the program Wednesday in Oakland, said the CHP's help is one of the tools in their campaign against scofflaws who are costing the public agency millions of dollars a year in uncollected tolls.

Drivers zipping through the FasTrak lanes without transponders that are used to pay the $4 tolls were responsible for $31.4 million in unpaid tolls in the fiscal year that ended in June, although fines and penalties imposed on some of the drivers cut the loss to $6 million.

With its new campaign, the authority expects to cut those losses to $3 million in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Rod McMillan, director of bridge operations and oversight for the authority, said the CHP will station officers in unoccupied toll booths serving FasTrak or carpool lanes on the region's bridges. The officers will radio information about alleged scofflaws to officers nearby, who will pull over drivers and issue tickets.

Cross said the CHP's presence at the toll plazas at the Bay, Richmond-San Rafael, Carquinez, Benicia, Antioch, San Mateo and Dumbarton bridges should cut down on all sorts of violations.

"The more CHP officers you see out there," he said, "the more people are going to comply with the law."

Along with increased enforcement at the toll plazas, the authority will overhaul the video enforcement system at all 67 toll lanes on the region's state bridges. Under the system, cameras photograph license plates and cars whose drivers fail to pay tolls.

The $7.5 million project will replace outdated cameras with ones capable of capturing sharper images of the front and rear of scofflaws' cars. The work will begin this summer and be completed by next spring. Also this summer, the toll authority will recalibrate the FasTrak readers in all dedicated lanes.

The authority plans this month to unleash a collection agency on violators who have ignored their FasTrak citations.

A public awareness campaign about toll violations is also planned, along with an interstate arrangement that will allow FasTrak enforcers to send bills to toll evaders from 13 other states - including Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Tennessee, which have the most FasTrak toll evaders. Those efforts are expected to begin within the next six months.

In the next year, the authority plans to replace transponders older than 5 years because batteries in some of them have failed, forcing FasTrak to read video images of license plates in order to collect the toll from customers' accounts.

Toll bridge officials are also considering a system of escalating fines for repeat violators. Violators now are fined the cost of the toll plus $25. If they don't pay within 30 days, the citation rises to the toll plus $70.

The authority is also considering seeking legislation that would allow it to revoke the driver's license or seize the vehicles of offenders with unpaid citations.

Some toll authority members said Wednesday they wanted to see fines boosted to cover the costs of enforcement.

"I think we owe it to our current customers that the full cost of collection be borne by the violators," said Bill Dodd, a Napa County supervisor.

The goal, said McMillan, is to collect enough money to make up for the toll cheats.

"Anything better is fine," he said, "but we want to recoup our tolls."